Belew, Levin, Mastelotto, and Friends

Friends is a real class act on stage. There's no other way to put it. I saw them performing as an opener for Two Door Cinema in San Diego at SOMA, and it was something completely unexpected. I've listened to their music on Spotify before, and first things first, you shouldn't expect them to sound anything alike.

The singer puts energy into it, the guitarist changes notes up, and they did I'm His Girl, which was amazing life due to the funk and harmony between the band members.

Sammanta was super personable, and once she started singing, her vocals were absolutely on key. Maybe it was the venue, since SOMA is generally pretty good for most types of music due to the structure, but her voice was amazingly articulated compared to the earlier opening act.

They're not just music either - they're a performance all in one. Nikki actually stripped down to nothing but his underwear and he had a very sensual, yet a little strange, dance session with Sammanta while she was singing. That's something you definitely don't see everyday, but it really shows how good the band's synergy is amongst one another. The crowd was mostly for Two Door Cinema, so they were all teenagers or early 20-somethings that day, and most of them didn't seem to appreciate Friends too much.